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Tanum 02Klaus

The inaugural release to Nick Sigsworth’s, aka Klaus’ Tanum Records came somewhat out of the blue, with little publicity or hype built up around the release. This said, the London based artist has never been one to buy into the clichéd mechanics of self promotion, eschewing glossy press shots and contrived marketing campaigns instead choosing to let his music speak for itself. Given this, its perhaps little surprise that the second contribution to the vinyl-only imprint appeared by equally humble methods, being premiered (in part) through Hessle Audio’s weekly Rinse.fm slot.

At the time of his debut with the then recently reincarnated R&S Records, the element that stood out most to me in his productions were the delicate, and incredibly restrained rhythmic elements. This latest record sees Sigsworth venture even deeper into the realms of percussive minimalism - his rhythmic elements feel like a ghost even of the skeletal structures they were before.

Melancholic strings open a-side ‘Gulf’, calling to mind the murky gothic soundscapes of an act like Raime. There is something about Sigsworth’s throbbing bass and barely-there percussion however that serves as constant reminder that he is approaching things from a totally different perspective - his background of taking inspiration from Deep Medi era dubstep records is still audible. In the closing minutes of the track a downtrodden vocal sample hinted at in the rest of the track is revealed in its entirety, adding context to Sigsworth carefully crafted soundscapes.

B-side ‘Strafe’ is another shadowy affair. Clattering percussion stumbles gently beneath low-end drones and downtrodden strings similar to those featured in ‘Gulf’. On a handful of occasions sharp cuts of string sample perforate the dense, sullen atmospheres Sigsworth has built up around them. As with his previous releases, ‘Strafe’ is a real masterclass in sampling, and the record in general retains Sigsworth’s incredibly unique approach to production.

Setting up an imprint to serve your own productions in an age of such fierce competition is a bold move for any producer, however the creative freedom it has facilitated Sigsworth shows that in this case it was clearly more than worth the risk.